Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Tilting Faces - Radiant Group Show and process shots

This is the third of four paintings that are on display in the Davis Gallery "Radiant" show. I have had several people ask for more details on the underpainting technique I used to achieve the glow in these paintings. SO... below are process shots of how I preserved the golden areas by laying in a stain of Indian Yellow. Unlike the cadmium family, this yellow is transparent and works well as an undertone without contaminating the layers above. (Cadmiums are opaque and tend to mix into and change subsequent layers, instead of glowing beneath them.) Below you can see how I went from my block in, straight to staining the "glow" areas. This allowed me to preserve those areas for later development AND provided a base tone that would glow through subsequent layers.

Sketch and beginning of block in.

Block in with Indian Yellow applied to floral "glow" areas.

I painted the yellow in, then wiped it out leaving a stain behind.

Working dark to light, I return to the foliage...

Darkest darks and highest contrast in foreground, muted and softer in background.

In the final stage, I add highlights to all the greenery and develop the flowers.

Perhaps the biggest development is how that front flower "tilted it's face" in these final marks. It's never too late to change things, and that was an important one. I thought it looked too rigid facing forward, so I used information from flowers behind it to change things up. I like the final gesture of that front sunflower so much better! It feels much more natural to me. :)Personal GrandBaby Update: I am still in heaven with my daughter's family and their new baby girl, and so grateful for these days of bonding. Her name is Laurel Anne (she'll go by the double name), after me and her other grandma, whose middle name is Anne. What a great honor for us!